Episode Details

I'm Molly Kovite, General Counsel at Coefficient Giving. I joined in 2021 as the organization's first lawyer and have since grown the team to (soon to be) seven lawyers and three legal admins.

Over the past couple of months, a number of AI safety organizations have asked me about whether they should hire in-house counsel and if so, what they should look for. This post is my attempt to write down what I've told them: how to tell when you've outgrown outside counsel, what in-house counsel does and doesn't get you, how to scope the role, and how to run a process that actually tells you whether someone will be good at it. This is one lawyer's experience at one organization, so treat it as calibrated opinion rather than settled wisdom. I'd be glad to hear where people disagree.

How do I know when I should hire an in-house attorney?

Some signs to look for:

• You’re unsure whether you’re bringing the right things to outside counsel
• Important plans or projects have been derailed or significantly delayed two or more times in ~6 months due to unexpected legal issues cropping up, despite running things by outside counsel
• You feel [...]

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Outline:

(00:56) How do I know when I should hire an in-house attorney?

(03:09) What are some of the downsides of hiring in-house counsel?

(05:37) How do I scope the role?

(07:45) What basic characteristics should I be looking for in an in-house counsel?

(09:27) How should I design my work test(s)?

(13:15) What should I look for in interviews?

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First published:
August 18th, 2026

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/TgCinHWuWCMNayJGG/hiring-good-in-house-counsel-a-braindump

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.